232 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GQIDE. 



painting every bit of stone that a rcne- 

 rablo antiquity has bequeathed us — we 

 don't| want to sec this sort of tiling in 

 gardens, but wo do want to see substantial 

 terrace lines, noble vases not out of place, 

 flowing lines of snowy tracery, and balus- 

 trades a little more foliated than town 

 councils use as "railings" for bridges. 

 The question turns plainly enough on this : 

 if stone decays, gets weather-stained, and 

 gives to the atmosphere what was meant 

 for mankind, how arc we to introduce it 

 more largely into the formal and highly 

 decorated portions of our garden — how 

 make the terraces and flower panels con- 

 1 iuuations of the architectural lines of the 

 house. 



The question was answered long ago 

 in the Floh.vl World, by the introduc- 

 tion of a notice of Rausonie's imperish- 

 able siliceous stone, which, as a substitute 

 for stone, accomplishes the desiderated 

 cheapness ; as a material intended to wear 

 for ever and defy the elements, proves, 

 after many years' experience of its use, 

 altogether uninfluenced by atmospheric 

 agencies ; and, as now worked up in an 

 almost endless variety of designs of the 

 highest artistic merit, brings pure art and 

 imperishable sculpture straight to the poor 

 man's door. I know the constitution and 

 history of most of the so-called " substi- 

 tutes for stone" which at various times 

 have been offered to a discerning public. 

 Some consist of common plaster faced 

 with Portland or Roman cement. The 

 summer sun causes a slight separation, 

 perhaps invisible, between the two ignoble 

 materials. The winter rains send a little 

 trickling of moisture into the interior. 

 The frosts cause the moistm-e to expand, 

 and the thaw converts the urn, or goddess, 

 or Newfoundland dog into a heap of frag- 

 ments, or, perhaps, only peels off the 

 cement and leaves the interior plaster 

 dummy in its native grace. There are 

 some good substitutes for stone, but the 

 best are bad ; within five miles of a town 

 they lose their proper colour in a year, and 

 become more and more like dead compo', 

 and people at last get disgusted with 

 them, aud either paint them, and so spoil 

 the idea of stone, or else let the moss 

 grows in their crevices, which sooner or 

 later crumbles them to powder. 



Ransome's patent imperishable stone 

 is now no novelty. It has stood the test 

 of many years' wear and many severe 

 experiments. Most of our eminent geo- 

 logists have consulted the mystery of its 

 manufacture with a desire to get a clue to 

 reading the histories of saiidstone strata, 



and the chemists of the whole world are 

 now turning Mr. Ransome's name over 

 in connection with the great question of 

 soluble flint, which some of our readers 

 may have made acquaintance with through 

 Recreatioe Science. We are not deal- 

 ing with a mere shop fabric, but with a 

 great invention, the principle of which is 

 to make stone, not to imitate it, and to 

 accomplish the end in such a way that the 

 stone shall be made ready sculptured. 

 Tiiough an artificial product, this is as 

 genuine a stone as flint; and in plain 

 truth is flint, for it consists wholly of 

 silex moulded in a loose form to any 

 desired design, aud then rendered solid 

 and unchangeable by a process analogous 

 to that by which the flints themselves 

 were made in past eras of geological 

 history. Its manufacture does not con- 

 cern us, but its uses do ; and I hope every 

 reader of the Floeal Woeld who has a 

 taste for, and desire after, high art embel- 

 lishments in their gardens, will discover in 

 Ransome's imperishable stone a solution 

 of all the difficulties arising out of expense 

 and durability, and, let me add, design ;for 

 apart from the most exquisite sculptures 

 in mai'ble, there never was so much pure 

 art expended on a manufactured product 

 before. Let those who doubt go to the 

 show rooms at Cannon Row, Westminster, 

 or to the works at Ipswich, and detenniue 

 for themselves. 



Here is a sketch of a garden which 

 not long since I laid out for a friend, who 

 wanted to enjoy a varied scene, and desired 

 good places lor the best bedders and best 

 out-door furnishing plants — a good culti- 

 vator, but admittedly deficient in ideas of 

 design. Without going into the detail of 

 the plan, let the print sufiice to explain 

 that with a tasteful wealth of shrub and 

 wood the affair simply resolves itself into 

 gravel, stone, and flowers. There is 

 breadth ; you can breathe freely, walk 

 freely, and every subordinate feature falls 

 into the scheme without ajar. The square 

 is bordered all round with trees and 

 shrubs, with ribbon lines in front. From 

 the foreground we enter by a flight of 

 steps, aud at the other extremity get into 

 the mixed garden by a walk arched over, 

 so that the scene before us is a thing com- 

 plete and distinct in itself; it derives no 

 help or injury from remote objects. It is 

 walled in by branches and edged round 

 with one of Ransome's kerbs, here repre- 

 sented in detail (Fig. 2). The centre is 

 occupied by that best of all Mr. Ransome's 

 contributions to the garden, the Jardiniere, 

 round which is placed a set of four flower- 



